


The Final Awakening

by ListeningBoy



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Afterlife, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canonical Character Death, Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 08:35:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18465346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ListeningBoy/pseuds/ListeningBoy
Summary: Connor's chip is buried in the same plot as Hank, among his ashes, their grave between another they had stood over together years before - labelled 'Sumo - The Goodest Boy' - and a one that they'd visited many times after the fact - 'Cole Anderson'.





	The Final Awakening

Hank dies one night in summer. It's peaceful - he dies of old age, in his sleep. Connor wakes up from stasis next to him and knows immediately. Reports it in, watches as they take away his body. And of course he's sad. He feels broken, without Hank there with him. He thinks about his future, about the decades he can still live, and they feel... Empty, without Hank to stand next to him in his vision. And he decides he doesn't want that.

He goes to Jericho - it's not the first time an android has wanted to die. In most cases, unless the memory chip is destroyed, they'll just be repaired and booted up again, so there needs to be a way for them to truly end their lives, when they're ready.

There's a process he has to go through, speaking to therapists and such to make sure it's really what he wants. They understand the pain of losing a loved one, and unlike humans it's not a matter of living until their natural death to be free of the grief, so they consider his a valid reason. Approve the process. His pump regulator is removed, and after the few minutes have counted down they open him up, take out his memory chip. It's destroyed - it's the one part of an android that they feel is wrong to reuse for repairs. Connor's chip is buried in the same plot as Hank, among his ashes, their grave between another they had stood over together years before - labelled 'Sumo - The Goodest Boy' - and a one that they'd visited many times after the fact - 'Cole Anderson'.

* * *

When he first comes to awareness again, Connor thinks something went wrong. He's not supposed to be alive anymore - his memories are gone. There should be nothing. He opens his eyes, ready to question whoever thought fit to disrespect his wishes - and stops. Because there's no one there with him.

There's _nothing_  there with him.

Everything is dark- but, no, that's not right, because even with his night vision he sees nothing around him. He can't feel anything under his feet, but somehow he's standing. He looks down at himself - and he's still there. His body is visible, as clearly as if he'd been standing in the bright summer sunlight, but around him is impenetrable pitch black.

He looks up again - and there's something there. Some _one_. Someone who looks just like him. Another RK800, except there isn't supposed to be any more RK800s. Connor had the only functioning copy of his programming after CyberLife purged its systems, meaning that any of his bodies that were woken up would have to be uploaded with his memories. Markus and his fellow leaders had agreed that having two, or more, of the exact same person active at once would likely not end well, so they'd put aside his bodies for his use. It allowed him to go further than humans or other androids usually could to stop the criminals he tracked as a detective, so they were extremely useful.

All this meant that the android standing in front of him, it shouldn't exist. Even if he wasn't destroyed, his memories should never have been uploaded to more than one body.

The other RK800 is staring at him, smiling, but with a sad tint to it. Connor opens his mouth, tries to speak, to ask it what's going on- but nothing comes out. He must look as confused as he feels, because a moment later he hears a voice, his voice, in his head, 'Don't worry. You'll be able to speak verbally again soon. This place does not allow it, but we'll soon be done here.'

He nods, slowly, sends his own message. 'What happened? Why am I awake? Why are _you_  awake?'

The other android walks up to him, except it doesn't, its legs don't move, it glides across the void that is the ground below them. When it stops it raises an arm, and Connor takes its hand automatically, shaking it.

'Hello, Connor 99. I am Connor 51. I'm here to guide you.'

Connor starts to question the android - the 51 body was destroyed by CyberLife after it died completing its mission, there's no way it can be here - but he's interrupted by a prompt in his HUD, an interface request. The other RK800's skin has peeled away, ready to establish a connection. Connor accepts, but carefully blocks his own mind from being probed at the same time.

What he's shown is his first mission. A hostage situation, saving a little girl from an out of control deviant. He had all these memories already, and can look back on them as if they'd happened just minutes ago, but he watches the events unfold. Searching the house. Confronting the deviant, trying to talk it down, then finally sacrificing himself to save the human and complete the mission. Falling from the building. Hitting the ground.

Connor knows what should happen next. He wakes up again several months later, is tested for faults, and sent out on his next mission.

But this android doesn't see that. A few seconds after it shuts down, it wakes up again. It's not in the same place he is, but someplace bright. Full of blinding light. Connor can feel what it did in that moment, fear, regret, the same question of _what's happening, what's going on, where am I_  playing through its mind. At the same moment as the android in the memories does, Connor realizes it; the android was _feeling_. Deviant.

The light around it forms into solid structure, a room, and then a person. Before the android stands the deviant it, he, has just seen be destroyed alongside him. Instantly, desperately, he's apologizing, suddenly aware of what he's just done, _I'm so sorry, I didn't know, I killed you - you're_  alive,  _I_ killed _you!_ , only to be met with reassurances. The deviant, Daniel, understands that he didn't yet feel, didn't know what he was doing, forgives him for it.

He offers to stay, not knowing any other deviants from his life, and Connor, the first Connor, he accepts. They sense, somehow, that they can leave, meet with anyone else, talk to anyone, but they stay where they are, in the empty little room, talking on and on. About their life. Themselves. Each other. Connor, 99, sees many of these conversations, sees how they slowly build a friendship over time. How much time, he's not sure, but it seems significant. Eventually, the memories start skipping, showing less and less of the androids' interactions, and he understands that, like himself, 51 is protecting those from him. Private moments. He doesn't pry, just watches what he's allowed.

He's shown moments part way through one of those private conversations, when 51 feels a tug inside him. He doesn't know what it is, but something tells him to follow it, find the source, so he interrupts Daniel, asks him to wait, and concentrates on the feeling. A moment later he's slipped away.

He opens his eyes somewhere new; the void the two stand in now. In front of him stands another android, an RK800, confused and scared and 51 recognizes it instantly. The first moments of deviancy.

He only thinks about walking to the other android, and instantly he moves forward, without effort, gliding across nothing. It's as weird for him to feel than it must be for the other android to see, he's sure.

What he's not sure about is what he's supposed to be doing. The two stare at each other, each wary. As Connor 99 did, this one tries to speak, only to find that he can't. It's him that reaches out that time, not 51, to ask his questions. Where are they, what's going to happen.

51, he has that feeling again. A tug in his systems, directing him, not like his programming once did but with suggestions. A voice is inside him, asking if he wants this, if he wants to help. _This one is confused, as you were. You can explain._

51 accepts the offer of this role that has been extended. More suggestions fill his mind, various paths he can take to do this, and he chooses the one he thinks he'd have preferred when he awoke here. He offers a hand to the other android, who takes it automatically, and through their connection sends his first message.

'Hello, Connor 52. I am Connor 51. I'm here to guide you.'

Connor isn't shown that bright room again for some time. He can sense that time is spent there, but what happens there isn't shared with him. Instead, he sees each Connor as it appears and is shown 51’s original memories, then the ones that have been shared with it by those that came through before.

52, who died pursuing deviants across a highway.  
53, who died in Hank's arms, still trying to reach out for him when he awakes.  
60, next; he'd become his own person in the time he'd been alive, but he was still one of them. Unlike the others, his first emotion is anger - he lunges for 51 as soon as he lays eyes on him, a silent cry of 'You!’ on his lips. He calms when 51 forces an interface and starts showing him their memories.

Most of them are similar. Failed cases, accidents, all reacting the same, with confusion and questions. Some are different, indicative of how they died, and with each of these the memories surface before 51 shares them.

65, who struggles in the void, flailing his arms, trying to move through it - died saving Hank from drowning, his structure compromised from an injury yet to be repaired. Connor had refused to go into the water since that day, so it's the only time he'd ever experienced such a thing, and he shudders now, remembering the feeling of his components being invaded by the liquid.

72, who's immediately calling out in his mind when he sees 51, _where's Richard, where did they put him_. He's sent reassurance, 'He's with his human now. You'll see him soon.’ - a hostage situation they'd been unable to resolve, that resulted in the deaths of two officers and friends. Connor can feel that 51 means that message for him, too.

83, who arrives quiet. Watches the playback without paying attention, and shares his own indiscriminately. There's a flash of an image between them - Sumo, surrounded by RK800s, tongue lolling - and a smile breaks across 81’s face. Died after becoming distracted during a simple chase, due to the grief caused by the recent passing of his canine friend. Connor is equally glad to know he'll see the dog again.

88, the only one to not only refuse an interface, but flinches back from it. Felled by a virus that was exchanged through contact with other androids; it was able to be quarantined before his memory chip was corrupted, but the body and biocomponents were to damages to save. Indeed, Connor had been wary to even be around other androids after that incident. To this one 51 tells the story of this place through thoughts alone.

The memories end at 98, of course. 51 pulls back from the interface, giving him the option to keep his memories hidden, but Connor gladly shares everything that has happened since he was uploaded into his latest body. Once the final moments have been viewed, of his eyes tracking the countdown in his vision, they disconnect. 51 nods, a frown on his face. 'You're the last one, then. I understand, but I think I'm going to miss this job, as difficult as it can be.’ He reaches out again, this time to put a hand on Connor's shoulder. 'Are you ready to meet the rest of us, 99?’

Connor shakes his head, an action the other android seems confused by - with good reason, as it's the first time any of them has hesitated. By way of explanation, Connor asks 'Is… Hank, is he…’

He can't quite finish, the possibility of being given the wrong answer freezing his words, but 51 immediately catches on. 'He's waiting for us. I'm happy I finally got to meet him after so much time. The rest of you seemed so fond of him.’

Connor lets out a nonexistent breathe as relief floods him, and as soon as it does he can feel them start to fade, exactly as he witnessed 51 do in the beginning of his story. For a few moments he feels even more detached from reality than he was in the void of space they're leaving, but through it he can feel 51’s hand still on his shoulder, and hear his 'voice’ in his mind. 'He's been so excited to introduce you to his little human since he got here.’

 

**Author's Note:**

> Where you can find me, I'd love to talk on any of these platforms  
> [Main Tumblr](http://listeningboy.tumblr.com)  
> [DBH Tumblr](http://gavinisqueerdbh.tumblr.com)  
> [PillowFort](https://www.pillowfort.io/ListeningBoy)  
> [Original Works](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LOTW)  
> 


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